Supercast is a very popular Farcaster client, handling 20% of the network’s traffic earlier in 2024.

Supercast caters to crypto-first power users on Farcaster w/ features including casts, creating threads, creating lists, using multiple accounts, built-in wallets to claim airdrops and transact, etc. It also allows creating a new free Farcaster account as part of the monthly subscription.

Let’s look at two key Supercast features that set it apart from Warpcast.

Scheduling casts and threads

Supercast allows users to schedule casts and organize them into threads simultaneously, helping them easily create long-form content. In contrast, Warpcast limits users to posting one cast at a time without an option to create a series of posts stacked together, like threads on X.

To build a similar sequence of casts on Warpcast, users must manually create each cast, reply to it, and repeat this process, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.

Supercast simplifies this by utilizing cron jobs and Neynar managed signers to automate the publishing of casts at the designated times.

Creating a new Farcaster account

Supercast not only enables users to switch between multiple accounts effortlessly, but it also offers the option to create a new Farcaster account using an email address for free, once a month. This free farcaster account can help users in various ways to boost their brand engagement, create bots, etc. The process to create a new account is remarkably simple.

Although the UI looks simple, a lot is going on under the hood. Supercast and Neynar perform a few complex onchain and Farcaster protocol interactions under the hood. Here's a glimpse of the process behind the scenes:

1. Account registration: Supercast creates a wallet signature and pings Neynar’s user registration endpoint. Neynar registers the new account, generates an FID and assigns storage on the Optimism network.

2. Username and profile setup: The user is then prompted to choose an fname (Farcaster usernname), Supercast verifies the fname is available. User then enters additional details like profile picture, display name, and bio.

3. Writing to the protocol: User profile details are then written onto the Farcaster protocol, finalizing the account creation process.

To add this account creation flow to an app, see here.

Future for clients like Supercast

Supercast is a great example of the power of decentralization of social media using web3 protocols. With the same data accessible across multiple clients, new features can be added more rapidly without depending on the original creator for regular updates. Farcaster allows anyone to build their own unique client. The fact that Supercast is a paid client, with many users willing to pay for it, demonstrates the demand for client diversity.

If you're interested in building a client like Supercast, check out this guide. At Neynar, we expect more such innovation to happen and are excited to support developers building in this space. If we can help, please reach out to @rish or @manan on Farcaster.